


“All is fair in love and war”, a Cassandra one-shot

by AzureAngel2



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-05
Updated: 2021-02-05
Packaged: 2021-03-17 14:21:53
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,547
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29226906
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AzureAngel2/pseuds/AzureAngel2
Summary: Summary:  Family comes in all sizes and forms. And Dinner tables are often a battlefield of doom. Drinks get spilled and sometimes even secrets. And hearts can end up as shattered as plates.Time frame: 2 ABYPlace of choice: CoruscantReader warning: Please excuse my weird English! I am German. English is only my Second language!Disclaimer: SW is owned by George Lucas, Lucas Ltd. and now The Walt Disney Company





	“All is fair in love and war”, a Cassandra one-shot

**Title:** _“All is fair in love and war”_ , a Cassie one-shot

_Every now and then I get a little bit lonely_   
_And you're never coming 'round_   
_(Turn around)_

_Every now and then I get a little bit tired_   
_Of listening to the sound of my tears_   
_(Turn around)_

_Every now and then I get a little bit nervous_   
_That the best of all the years have gone by_   
_(Turn around)_

_Every now and then I get a little bit terrified_   
_And then I see the look in your eyes_   
_(Turn around, bright eyes)_

_Every now and then I fall apart_   
_(Turn around, bright eyes)_

_Every now and then I fall apart_   
_And I need you now tonight_   
_And I need you more than ever_   
_And if you only hold me tight_   
_We'll be holding on forever_   
_And we'll only be making it right_   
_'Cause we'll never be wrong_   
_Together we can take it to the end of the line_   
_Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time_

_(All of the time)_   
_I don't know what to do and I'm always in the dark_   
_We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks_   
_I really need you tonight_   
_Forever's gonna start tonight_   
_Forever's gonna start tonight_

_Once upon a time I was falling in love_   
_But now I'm only falling apart_   
_There's nothing I can do_   
_A total eclipse of the heart_   
_Once upon a time there was light in my life_   
_But now there's only love in the dark_   
_Nothing I can say_   
_A total eclipse of the heart_

_Every now and then I fall apart_   
_(Turn around, bright eyes)_

_Every now and then I fall apart_   
_And I need you now tonight_   
_(And I need you now)_   
_And I need you more than ever_   
_And if you only hold me tight_   
_(If you only)_   
_We'll be holding on forever_   
_And we'll only be making it right_   
_(And we'll never)_   
_'Cause we'll never be wrong_   
_Together we can take it to the end of the line_   
_Your love is like a shadow on me all of the time_

_(All of the time)_   
_I don't know what to do, I'm always in the dark_   
_We're living in a powder keg and giving off sparks_   
_I really need you tonight_   
_Forever's gonna start tonight_   
_Forever's gonna start tonight_

_Once upon a time I was falling in love_   
_But now I'm only falling apart_   
_Nothing I can say_   
_A total eclipse of the heart_   
_A total eclipse of the heart_   
_A total eclipse of the heart_   
_Turn around, bright eyes_

As a starter you have Nyork Chowder from Naboo. As a side dish you have Mounder Potato Rice from Corellia. The main course is Kommerken steak with Ootoowergs. But when you try to enjoy the Chimbak Wine from Alderaan, your stomach betrays you.

Embarrassed, you stare at the mess which you puked right into your fancy napkin. Not sure what to say to your dinner guest, you remain in your seat. Your face redder than the wine he pulled you earlier on.

The waves of the Great Western Sea can be heard from the outside. Not able to wash away your utter embarrassment.

“Could it be that you are with child, Cassandra?”

His remark hits you with the efficiency of a DT-29 heavy blaster pistol.

“You are mistaken!” you utter. The edge of the table top, that you cling to, is the only thing that feels real.

Your cousin gets up with no haste whatsoever. Besides, he was not eating anyway. Never does. Not the way that normal humans do. His nourishment comes in feeding tubes. He just keeps you company. Like most nights you can spend together in his tight schedule.

“The Force is with you, but you shun it.”

Now he sounds like some scholar, throwing his pearls of wisdom at you non-stop. You already have one such person in your life. Besides, he is a warrior. You are the one who reads his books and scrolls for him.

“I'd rather be part of the web that the Force weaves than a lens for its focus,” you defend yourself and know at once how lame that sounds.

“You'd rather be powerless than powerful. I see.” He towers above you, gloating somehow. You are damned sure he does so behind his Sith mask. “Have you ever heard of contraception, Cassandra?”

You fist your right hand, bringing it down on the table so much it hurts. Shi-shook wood can be so very hard. “I am not freckin' pregnant!” you scream. “It's impossible!”

Underneath his helmet you feel him smile. “Strange, that I feel a third life form in this room.”

“Then you have a vivid imagination, Darth!” you scold him, sounding like a kindergarten teacher being upset with a feisty child.

Darth. No one ever calls him thus. That's also because it's not really a name, but a title. You use it anyway in private settings. And what is more private than his fortress retreat on Coruscant's Northern hemisphere.

Your cousin stands very close to you now. Others would freak out by his closeness. There are many who fear him. You don't. As mad as you are with him, you'd rather smash your plate right on his silly helmet. That would achieve nothing though. His Sith armour is too thick. And his skull might be, too. Even though he looks very fragile underneath all those layers of metal and cybernetic add-ons. Hardly anyone is allowed to see him during his bacta tank sessions.

“I take the pill, you know?!?” you find yourself telling him.

“For maximum effectiveness, you must take the mini-pill at the same time every day,” your cousin states as if he was about to reveal a secret of his ancient order. “Considering your poor mathematical skills and the amount of interplanetary journeys you take on a monthly basis, I would say your failure is complete.”

You blush.

This is woman stuff and he should not be the one discussing it with you. Then again, there are no motherly figures around you. Never were. Perhaps Cornelia Veers, but only for a very brief time.

Deflated, you sink down into your chair again. “I made her a grand-mother.”

Spot on, he knows whom you just refereed to. “Misses Veers would be very much honoured, I am sure.” He pauses for effect. “Do you intend to tell General Veers?”

You wring your hands. “I am not even sure whether I should tell Zev.”

His surprise makes his artificial breath get stuck for a few seconds. You cringe, because you know how much an irregularity like this hurts his poor, tortured lungs.

About twenty-one years ago a Jedi knight had fought against him and left him dying close to one of Mustafar's lava rivers. This is why you swore to yourself that you would never leave him. He needs a reasonable person around in his desolate life.

“Why would you choose not to tell your fiancé?” he asks, still puzzled.

That answer is easy. “Because we broke up. Completely.”

“When did this occur?”

His anger cloaks you like a blanket. But it's not the first time that you face it. You have learned to ride his currents.

“Honestly?” Not only do you get up, but you climb the chair to be the one with the higher ground. “Because he wanted to defect.”

“Defect?” he echoes.

“Zev does not know that yet, but soon he will.” You mouth forms a hard, joyless smile. “It's only a question of time.”

“Why did you not tell me before?” he thunders and an invisible hand wipes clean the entire table. “Why wait until tonight?”

“You have your own agenda at present. Luke Skywalker, right? The son of your great love. The one who chose this Jedi general over you.” You glower down on him. “You could not have her, but you will try to convert him. By all means possible. And you can fight very dirty.”

He says nothing, just stares up to you.

“When you love somebody, you should set this person free. I am not a Sith lord like you. Slavery is soooo not my thing.” You put your hands on your hips. “If Zev does not feel comfortable with our glorious Empire, then by all means, he should not be forced to be a part of it.”

“Is that really your call to make?” he says acidly, his words as dark as storm clouds.

Frantically, you nod. “Of course, because he was my lover, not yours. And he is the father of my child.”

“You take his fatherly rights away from him!” my cousin insists, trembling visibly.

“Wait a second here, Darth! You took Anakin's right away to be a father to Luke, when murdering him in cold blood.”

You see his right hand coming, but you face it bravely. Even if the strength of impact might take your head of. But then his arm stops mid-air, inches away from your cheek.

For a while the two of you remain in your positions, then he offers you the very hand he wanted you to strike down with. Gingerly, you take it.

“If you ever truly loved Padmé then you should leave her child alone,” you say in a low tone, because you cannot help it.

The leather of his left glove creaks. “I finally begin to understand the old Tatooine saying: As mean as bantha piss.”

“Pardon me?” you shriek, your face turning scarlet.

Your hand still enclosed in his grip, he draws you closer to him. “You are indeed the rightful daughter of Krennic. He lives on in you.”

Your eye brows draw together. “If that was supposed to be a compliment, you suck at it.”

An entire squadron of Tie-fighters seems to fly by in his mind before he decides to say, “I could never give up what is rightfully mine, Cassandra.”

You roll your eyes at him. “That boy is not meant for you to spoil.”

“Watch me!” he hisses.

“He will be your undoing, if he is really as sweet and charming as your secret service reports say about him. A Tatooine farm boy really. Bright eyed. Idealistic. Of course he joined this rebellion against our Empire. Against what is right.”

“I will handle that.”

You twitch your nose, sure he is doomed to fail. Sith lords sometimes overestimate themselves. History is full of their flaws and personal failures. And they have no one to speak against it, by design.

He bends his head down to you. “But can you handle a baby on your own, cousin?”

“I thought you will help me out,” you beam.

“Me?” He didn' t see that coming.

You cringe with disgust. “Who else? Vaneé the old creep?”

“You do not trust me with Luke Skywalker, but you freely would give me your baby,” he wonders.

“It's not that I will wrap it in paper and wind a ribbon around it, leaving it at at the gates of your threshold on Mustafar,” I point out.

Before the silence between the two of you becomes uncomfortable, he leads you towards the panorama window.

“We need to talk,” he clips out.

“And what do you think we did until now?” you joke, even though you have a feeling of uneasiness. “Playing Sabacc?”

A wave of sorrow and regret clashes against the frontiers of your mind. “Your baby will face unbelievable obstacles.”

“Why should my child be in any danger? It's not even born yet.”

He turns his massive back on you. “It is hard enough watching out for you. But with a new Palpatine on the rise…”

His words might have been an acoustic disturbance by his voice modulator as well. For they do not make any sense to you.

“The Emperor? What has he got to do with it?”

“He is my master.”

Bile builds up in your throat for the second time this evening. You have heard of morning sickness, but this is ridiculous.

“There's more. It won't be easy for you to hear it, but you must.”

Why are you not surprised?

“Krennic should have told you this. Not I. But with the pace that things develop…”

You hold your breath. This is not about contraceptives any more.

Dramatically, he swirls around and not for the first time you think that he wears this cape for fancy reasons only. For he is a drama queen. “Nagina Samye was the niece of Sheev Palpatine.”

You just have enough time to turn sideways before you sprinkle the expensive rug with the contains of your stomach.

“You know what this means to you. And the child, don't you?”

The second time tonight the universe is unhinged. You tumble against the window glass like a confused insect.

“But this… how… Qui-Gon never told me!” you stutter.

His alarm is like a light saber blade piercing you. “Qui-Gon?”

“Qui-Gon,” you confirm. “The Jedi master who claims to be my dad.”

“No,” he presses out like a whinny, little boy. “This is impossible!”

You overcome your own dizziness to be his anchor of reality. “Search, your feelings! You know it to be true!”

Several priceless paintings thump on the floor.

“His daughter!”

You can see that his helmet goes forth and back as if he is shaking his head underneath it. The pain of it must be immense.

“Do you also know that particular Jedi master?” you probe carefully, because he does not seem to be stable right now. “But he must have died long before your time.”

Some sort of shiver goes right through him. “I have met him as a child. He… was killed before he could take me on as his apprentice.”

You saw the pain before the wound. “And you ended up with the wrong Jedi master?”

Ruefully, he agrees, “One might say so.”

There is a lot to be said about it, but now is not the time. Your cousin made himself vulnerable enough. “So, we are both Palpatines.”

“By some strange twist of fate, yes. I came into this world through means others would think of as unnatural.”

You bite your lips. A bad habit of yours since ages. “Are you a clone like me?”

“No.” There is anger, disgust and sadness in his voice. Even his voice modulator cannot filer it out. “Even though I got created by his will as well.”

Your heart beats too loud in your ears.

He walks to the other end of the room. A walk of shame. “My master… he knows of ways how to manipulate the Midi-chlorians.”

“But you had a mother right?”

His pause is brief. “Unlike you, yes.”

“I am motherless, you came into this universe without a true father.” You march up to him and hug him from behind, not caring that he hates that. “We are a freaky family, are we not?”

“That might very well be.”

Before it gets too claustrophobic for him, you let go. “We should clean this mess up,” you announce and point towards the battlefield we left in our wake.

“We?”

Grinning, you start stroking your belly. “There is no point in me being forced to bend over once more. But I make sure to get you the cleaning utensils.”

**Author's Note:**

> Sources:  
> The song “Turn around bright eyes” by Bonnie Tyler (1983)  
> Wookieepedia – The Star Wars Wiki  
> Hidden quotes from SW movies and the SW universe


End file.
